Family, friends, Donegal and the whole of Ireland were literally on the edge of their seats on Thursday night as Mark English surged down the home straight to claim the outdoor European 800m gold medal at the Alexander Stadium. As a result Mark became the first Irish man ever to win a gold at the European Championship. It was the perfect execution of the race plan by the Letterkenny man and the superb commentary from RTE’s Greg Allen added to the excitement over the two laps of the course. The support of the sizeable Irish crowd was acknowledged afterwards by Mark. It was a long overdue reward for the Finn Valley AC man who had been dreaming of a gold for over a decade. To finally do it at the age of 33 and six years older than the rest of the field, made it more special. After crossing the line the medical doctor hunkered down, head bowed in his two hands taking a moment to process that he was a gold medalist for the first time in his senior career. He was formally presented with his gold medal on Friday night in the presence of a big Irish contingent. Mark had claimed victory in a time of 1 minute 45.26 seconds. After the presentation English told Athletics Ireland “to do it for Letterkenny, for my club Finn Valley, for my county Donegal and my country Ireland, it’s an amazing experience, to come away with the gold medal”
